When the makers of New Girl learned that they received the post-Super Bowl timeslot in 2014, they knew they had the opportunity to do something big in front of a new audience. But even they couldn’t believe they were able to snag Prince for the special episode.
The iconic artist’s appearance on the show was years in the making. But star Zooey Deschanel still needed other people to verify that Prince’s interest in New Girl was real.
Prince gave Nick and Jess some helpful advice in his ‘New Girl’ episode
“Prince,” the 14th episode of New Girl‘s third season, centers on the same topic as many episodes: Jess and Nick’s (Jake Johnson) comic inability to properly explain how much they mean to each other.
Jess and her best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) get ready to go to a party at Prince’s house, and before they leave, Nick suddenly tells Jess he loves her for the first time. This admission only receives an awkward finger gun salute in response. Nick and his roommates crash the party so he can take his words back.
When the two reunite to talk about their feelings, Prince appears and asks about their problems. After giving the couple a moment to recognize the surreality of meeting a musical genius (Nick faints at the sight of him), Prince tales Jess on a spiritual journey to help her get past her fear and admit she loves Nick. The guest star also gets into a surprisingly competitive ping-pong match with Cece.
New Girl creator Liz Meriwether attempted to get Prince onto the show during the previous season. She told The Hollywood Reporter the artist was offered a role in the Season 2 episode “Virgins,” but the timing didn’t work out. The novelty of a Super Bowl episode made it easier to write him into the show.
The cast couldn’t believe Prince wanted to be on ‘New Girl’
Deschanel discussed the experience of making “Prince” during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Prince’s initial pitch to be on the show was enough to make the actor question reality:
“I got a cold email from his manager, and it was like the most on-brand Prince email ever — like too on-brand. It was like, ‘Hello, I am manager to legendary artist Prince. He is loving the show New Girl. He would like 2 B’ — you know, like, 2 B — ‘on the show.’ And I’m like, ‘This has to be a prank. There’s no way!’”
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She was eventually convinced it was really Prince after having several people look into the email. He found New Girl while channel surfing one day and became so invested in Nick and Jess’ relationship that he and his band would watch it every week, even when they were on tour.
Prince’s sincere fandom of the show didn’t completely erase the anxiety of the cast and crew. Deschanel later claims that they were not sure he was gonna show up on set, and it’d be hard to film an episode called “Prince” without Prince. But the artist did show, and in the words of Deschanel, “A good actor and very kind of chill all the time.”
Jake Johnson was similarly amazed by the prospect of working with Prince, calling the episode an “out of body experience.”
Prince had one stipulation before confirming his appearance
It wouldn’t be a Prince story without some example of his idiosyncratic personality. The singer had one demand before officially signing up for New Girl: Keep the Kardashians away from the premises.
The producers accepted Prince’s request, but doing so meant sending two members of the celebrity family away after they had already been booked.
“It turns out that someone from Prince’s camp said, ‘Who are the celebrities? I hope it’s not a Kardashian’, Deschanel recalled in the Kimmel interview. “It’s really sad because Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner had very kindly come in and shot [a] scene… I felt so bad because obviously, everyone had gone out of their way to be there on that day, but Prince was running the show”.
Before he showed up to set, members of the New Girl crew collected all the scripts and other evidence that the Kardashians were meant to be in the episode and burned them in a bonfire. Production went off without a hitch. According to Nielsen ratings, “Prince” was viewed by 26.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode of New Girl.
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